Depending on who does the counting, somewhere between 3,000 and 5,500 folks lined up in York, Pa., today -- many for hours -- to listen to Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and to ask him questions. Also in attendance: Senate colleagues Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter, former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, Congressman Todd Platts and, front and center in the arena, McCain's iconic Straight Talk Express campaign bus.
As is his habit, McCain spent twice as much time taking questions as he did making his stump speech. Much of his remarks centered on the still unfolding situation in South Ossetia, although he did take time to remark on Barack Obama's seeming inability to recognize the success of the troop surge in Iraq. He was questioned on Social Security reform, technology in the classroom, defense, veterans' benefits and conservative values. He took a teacher's concerns about a lack of technology in American classrooms as an opportunity to riff on themes of school choice and educational standards -- but in most cases gave, at least by political standards, fairly straightforward answers on the issues. Most notable was his response when asked if thought he could muster a passionate defense of conservative ideals, which I'll quote in its entirely: "Yes."
Word is John McCain was pleased with his reception in York. He had every right to be: The town sure seemed to appreciate him, too. If he can build on successes in Pennsylvania's conservative "T" and make a good appeal to suburban and urban voters around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the senator just might have good reason to keep coming back to visit Pennsylvania voters.
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I'd also like to post a shout out to my family in Spring Grove, Pa. As cool as the York event was, the neatest thing about it was that it was a darned good excuse to hang out with them.
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